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Designing wearables for use in the workplace: The role of solution developers

Author

Listed:
  • Evers, Maren
  • Krzywdzinski, Martin
  • Pfeiffer, Sabine

Abstract

Wearables (such as data glasses and smartwatches) are a particularly visible element of Industrie 4.0 applications. They aim at providing situation-specific information to workers, but at the same time they can also be used for surveillance and control because they generate data on the work process and sometimes even on movement patterns and vital data of the employees. Wearables technology is at an early stage of development, in which the interests and perspectives of relevant stakeholders, especially technology developers and the management, are of particular importance. This article explores the role of solution developers and their understanding of work processes in which wearables are to be used. It is based on expert interviews with solution developers, academic and company experts. The analysis shows an ambivalent understanding of work: On the one hand, it is characterized by the perception of workers as potential sources of error. It focuses on the optimization of individual workplaces and their ergonomics, while broader questions of work design and work organization are ignored. On the other hand, the technology developers see and discuss the potentials and dangers of wearables technologies with regard to individualization, data protection and control in a differentiated manner.

Suggested Citation

  • Evers, Maren & Krzywdzinski, Martin & Pfeiffer, Sabine, 2018. "Designing wearables for use in the workplace: The role of solution developers," Discussion Papers, Research Group Globalization, Work, and Production SP III 2018-301, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:wzbgwp:spiii2018301
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Scholz, Robert, 2017. "German Model or German Models? The spatial distribution of capital and labour in the corporate governance of stock listed companies," Discussion Papers, Research Group Globalization, Work, and Production SP III 2017-301, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    2. Judy Wajcman, 2006. "New connections: social studies of science and technology and studies of work," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 20(4), pages 773-786, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Krzywdzinski, Martin & Pfeiffer, Sabine & Evers, Maren & Gerber, Christine, 2022. "Measuring work and workers: Wearables and digital assistance systems in manufacturing and logistics," Discussion Papers, Research Group Globalization, Work, and Production SP III 2022-301, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    2. Lechowski, Grzegorz, 2019. "Beyond "dependent development" in a high-tech industry? The interplay between domestic institutions and transnational sectoral governance in the trajectories of emerging Polish IT firms [," Discussion Papers, Research Group Globalization, Work, and Production SP III 2018-302r, WZB Berlin Social Science Center, revised 2019.
    3. Kirchner, Stefan & Matiaske, Wenzel, 2020. "Plattformökonomie und Arbeitsbeziehungen ‒ Digitalisierung zwischen imaginierter Zukunft und empirischer Gegenwart," Industrielle Beziehungen. Zeitschrift für Arbeit, Organisation und Management, Verlag Barbara Budrich, vol. 27(2), pages 105-119.
    4. Fedorets Alexandra & Adriaans Jule & Kirchner Stefan & Giering Oliver, 2022. "Data on Digital Transformation in the German Socio-Economic Panel," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 242(5-6), pages 691-705, December.
    5. Lechowski, Grzegorz, 2018. "Beyond "dependent development" in a high-tech industry? The interplay between domestic institutions and transnational sectoral governance in the trajectories of emerging Polish IT firms," Discussion Papers, Research Group Globalization, Work, and Production SP III 2018-302, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    industrie 4.0; technology; developers; labor process; optimization; Industrie 4.0; Technologie; Technologieentwicklung; Arbeitsprozess; Optimierung;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J53 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Labor-Management Relations; Industrial Jurisprudence
    • M54 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Personnel Economics - - - Labor Management
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes

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